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BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


"~Vr   "  ""   -":• 


REPORT  OF  A  MAJORITY 


OF 


BOEDER  COUNTY    DELEGATIONS,  ON  JOINT    RESOLUTION 

OF  LEGISLATURE  OF  NEVADA,  ASKING  THE  CESSION 

OF    TERRITORY    EAST    OF    THE    SUMMIT    OF 

THE    SIERRA     NEYADAS. 


G.  II.  SPRINGER STATE  PRINTER. 


Ubraiy 


RE  FORT. 


MR.  SPEAKER:  The  delegations  to  whom  was  referred  Joint  .Resolu- 
tion of  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Nevada,  respectfully 
urging  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  California  to  cede  to  the  State  of 
.Nevada  all  the  territory  of  this  State  lying  east  of  the  summit  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  would  most  respectfully  report:  That  they 
have  carefully  considered  the  suhject  matter  set  forth  in  the  preamble 
to  said  resolution,  and  fully  concur  with  the  same,  so  far  as  relates  to 
the  preference  of  natural  boundaries  over  artificial  lines,  in  the  separa- 
tion of  communities  into  independent  governments;  and  that  great 
injustice  is  often  done  by  the  adoption  of  artificial  instead  of  natural 
division  lines  between  States.  But  your  committee  cannot,  so  fully, 
concur  with  the  views  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Nevada,  to  the 
effect  that  it  will  inure  to  the  great  benefit  and  accommodation  of  any 
Considerable  number  of  the  citizens  of  the  State  of  California  to  change 
the  fixed  boundary  line  between  us  and  our  sister  State,  to  the  uncer- 
tain meanderings  of  the  summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas.  And  when  we 
take  into  consideration  that  the  present  boundary  line  has  become  well 
understood,  a  change,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  would  only 
tend  to  confusion  and  prove  detrimental  to  the  public  good. 

We  therefore  recommend  'that  no  further  action  be  taken  in  the 
premises. 

G.  W.   GIFFEN, 
For  Majority  of  Delegations. 


Supplemental  Report  of  Border  Delegations. 


Boncroft 


REPORT. 


MR.  SPEAKER:  As  the  memorial  under  consideration  was  submitted 
to  the  present  Legislature  mainly  at  my  suggestion,  it  having  received 
no  due  attention  at  the  hands  Of  the  previous  one,  I  deem  it  not  im- 
proper for  me  to  supplement  the  report  of  the  delegations  to  whom  the 
mutter  was  referred,  by  one  relating  more  particularly  to  the  counties 
which  lie  entirely  within  the  territory  in  question,  and  which  I  have  the 
honor  to  partly  represent — Inyo  and  Mono. 

In  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  this  State,  the  boundary  question 
was  the  most  hotly  contested  one  of  the  entire  session,  the  debates 
thereon  occupying  more  than  a  week's  time.  It  was  repeatedly  declared 
that  the  summit  of  the  snow-line  of  the  Sierra  was  the  undoubted  natural 
western  boundary  of  the  proposed  State.  But  the  ascendant  political 
issues  of  that  day  somehow  seemed  to  dictate  the  formation  of  a  State 
line  much  farther  west  than  that  finally  adopted,  which  was  agreed  to 
as  a  compromise. 

Upon  the  admission  of  the  State,  Congress  left  the  matter  open  to  the 
further  consideration  of  the  Legislature.  Since,  however,  by  the  form- 
'ation  of  Nevada,  the  National  Congress  has,  by  authorized  surveys, 
twice  fixed  the  boundaries  as  it  now  stands. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  undersigned,  a  fair  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
two  counties  desire  the  change,  but  the  question  has  never  been  agitated 
sufficiently  to  excite  a  well  defined  expression.  A  tenable  reason  for  a 
change  has  been  that  hitherto  the  people  have  been  practically  unrep- 
resented in  this  Legislature,  but  such  will  be  no  longer  the  case  under 
the  operation  of  the  new  apportionment. 

The  chief  and  only  exports  of  the  counties  are  the  mineral  products, 
and  bullion  is  heavily  taxed  by  Nevada. 

Considering  that  no  such  tax  is  imposed  by  California,  in  a  business 
point  of  view  there  can  be  but  one  conclusion,  i.  e.,  the  inconvenience  of 
isolation  and  other  disadvantages  not  necessary  to  recapitulate  at 
length,  can  be  better  borne  by  said  counties  than  they  can  assume 
political  and  geographical  place  within  the  Silver  State. 

Our  State  government  of  the  future  can  but  rely  upon  the  immense 
natural  wealth  of  the  counties  in  question  for  a  considerable  proportion 
of  her  revenues,  and  from  this  standpoint  the  proposed  cession  would 
be  too  ill  advised  to  be  seriously  contemplated. 

PARKER, 
Of  Inyo  and  Mono. 


